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Tag Archives: faith

As you may have gathered from past newsletters, the months from August of 2017 until now have been difficult months for our family. Our hearts have been troubled with one impossible problem and many little ones, but through it all we have held tight to God’s promises that He loves us and intends good for us even when things are not going the way we would like. During these immense times of questioning, being frustrated with a lack of answers, struggling to maintain faith anyway, and attempting to continue to walk in His ways, we knew above all that He was with us and that in the end He would triumph. And I can announce that He did and that God proved once again that He was even in our trials, and that He does love us and intends good for us.

As I look back on these 10 months I can now see God working and His timing. I can see that none of us were ready for what He was to do until now. That got me to thinking about how much easier it is to throw myself into His arms for the impossible, yet how much harder it is for me to stop the little worries that seem to plague my everyday.

I used to pick on my mother who was known as a great worrier. In fact she told me that if she didn’t worry about stuff, who would? It became her job to be the family worrier. I, Continue reading →

As you who have been reading my newsletters know, our family has gone through some stuff the past few months. When you have had what feels like a tsunami blow over you and try to drown you and take your very breath away, it is hard to hang on to hope. But it is that very hope that anchors our soul to our God, the God over all, the God who sees this as impossible for man but possible for Him. (see Mark 10:27, Luke 1:37, John 12:46, Heb. 6:17-19 ESV)

Years ago I read a sermon titled “How Big Is Your God?” that was preached by Francis Schaeffer. Although I no longer have a copy of it I did remember the title as we struggled in what looked like overwhelming and impossible situations. It was obvious that if God didn’t intervene we could not find a way out of our crisis. At the same time our friends were going through a different crisis and even more devastating than ours. If we were to evaluate the two crises we would have to say that theirs should take precedence over us. I felt that God was saying that we had to believe that our God was big enough to handle both of these and many others at the same time. We had to stop believing the lie of the devil saying that our problem was small considering our friends’ crisis. Many of our fellow Americans at the same time had to deal with death and destruction in the wake of the many hurricanes and the deadly mass shootings, and destructive riots. What was our problem in comparison to those others? Was God too busy to even hear us and were we too selfish to bother him when others needed Him more? Continue reading →

In 2 Kings 4:8-37 there is a story about a woman who was gifted with hospitality. She saw a holy man of God come to her village and she invited him to her home for dinner. He (Elisha) was so comfortable in her home that every time he passed through her town he’d stop, visit, and have a meal there. The woman was so blessed by his presence she asked her husband if they could build a guest room for the man of God and he agreed to build it up on the roof. She then decorated it with a bed, a chair, and a table with a lamp stand.

One day Elisha stopped by to rest in the woman’s home. As he lay down on the bed to rest in his new bedroom he called for her. As she stood outside his room he asked her what Continue reading →

Recently I have gone through trouble that has had a huge affect on my family and there was nothing I could do to change its course except pray and hold on to God’s promises. It has felt like a huge tsunami has overcome us and, although the worst of the storm has passed we are left with a lot of debris to deal with. This won’t get repaired in the near future.

When the tsunami comes in your life, when you are overwhelmed by the wave of depression and despair and you are rolled under the waves and can’t tell the top from the bottom, when life feels dark, and all strength and hope is gone, that is the time that the Lord will be free to work miracles. When you are so tired, so unable, that is when the Lord can bring a change in you and your circumstances. When you acknowledge that you are at the end of yourself and your ability to affect change everything in you yells for Help. Your help comes from the Lord even when you feel nothing. This is the time to let go and let Him do what He wants to do (without your help). When you feel most vulnerable that is when He does the most work on your behalf.

There used to be a TV show called Mission Impossible and every episode would start with a problem and then the announcer would say “This is your mission if you agree to it.” Our mission for life in Christ can be likened to the Girl Scout motto, “Be Prepared.” The Bible tells us that in this world there will be trouble, but don’t be overcome by the world. How can we not be overcome? Be prepared.

So how am I dealing with my tsunami? Better than times before, as I have prepared for Continue reading →

Ecclesiastes 3 says there are seasons for everything. In the season I am now in God has been talking to me through simple things like my possessions. As I look at them I waver between two opinions. In the past I have let go of some things too soon and then had to buy them again. But, there are other things that I should have let go of a long time ago things that hold an emotional attachment or memory even though they have long ago lost their usefulness. I want to declutter my home but I’m not sure what I should let go of or what I should hold on to. It is that way in my emotional life, my relational life, and my spiritual life also, which leads me to the following questions:

Are there attachments I need to change or even let go of?

Are there things that are cluttering up and distracting me from the walk with God I really want?

What do I need to let go of? What do I need to hold on to?

In this newsletter I really want to focus on 5 things that I see that can distract us from focusing on our walk with the Lord. Although I know that there are many more, I feel that these 5 are struggles for all of us: fear, children, yesterday, unforgiveness, and dreams. This newsletter will come in two parts since I cannot get it all down to 6 pages. So you will receive Part 2 in November. Continue reading →

I received a new insight from the Lord as I was studying the life of Elijah. I was reminded of the passage of scripture in James 5:17-18: “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours [with the same physical, mental, and spiritual limitations and shortcomings], and he prayed intensely for it not to rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its crops [as usual]. (AMP) Elijah was James’ example of a “righteous man” who prayed “heartfelt and persistent prayer(s)” which “accomplish(ed) much.” James 5:16

As I was looking at the life of Elijah, I also thought that he was an example of Ezekiel 22:30, a man who stood in the gap between God, His people, Ahab, Jezebel and the prophets of Baal. It was then that the Lord began to show me that a person who stands in the gap does not just pray, but their prayer of faith also involves action, “is productive of good works.” (Matthew Henry Commentary) James 2:14-26 talks about faith without works as being dead or of no result. Continue reading →

In the last newsletter I wrote you about the letters Jesus wrote to 3 churches in Revelation. He covered subjects like: losing your first love and passion for Jesus, spending more time working for God than spending time with God, being afraid of possible persecution, being under pressure to believe what others believe both in the secular and religious worlds, being distracted by other things and compromising the Word of God, and being tempted to worship men and the things of this world. Jesus also kept reminding them of the blessings that were available to Christians both in this world and the next. Now I want to share with you what I’ve learned about the other 4 churches Jesus wrote letters to and how they can speak to us about our lives even today.

Thyatira (Rev. 2:18-29)

Thyatira was a thriving industrial city. Like most cities in the pagan world, they had Continue reading →

How many times have you thought of Nehemiah? Do you remember who he is and what he did? The verse, “The joy of the Lord is your strength,” popped into my head the other day. I wasn’t sure where to find it, but after checking it out I found it in the midst of Nehemiah’s story. (Neh. 8:10) I then checked out that verse in other Bible translations and was surprised that they were all exactly the same except for the Amplified Bible which only added “and stronghold” to your strength. It seems if we want strength for our daily walk we need to receive “the joy of the Lord” or is it “the joy in the Lord?” Let’s look at Nehemiah for a moment to see if we can get some insights into this. Continue reading →

The Princess awakened to a glorious sunrise. She hurried to complete her morning routine so that she could meet the Prince for their morning walk in the garden. She practically ran to meet him as this was one of the most special times of the day.

“Good morning, my Princess,” said the Prince. “How fresh and sweet you look this morning. I love to see you with the sleep freshly wiped form your eyes.”

“Oh Prince, how I love our walks together. What are we going to talk about today?” asked the Princess.

As I studied the goodness of God and thought about Him being good all the time in my life I remembered the times when I was disappointed with God in the circumstances that I was in. In those times I know that I had believed and had faith that He would come and rescue me, heal me, or keep me from harm, but it didn’t feel like He did. I still loved the Lord, but I had to admit that I was disappointed that He did not intervene as I thought that He would. I remember how amazed I was when I heard a pastor say that he had never been disappointed by God. Whoa, I couldn’t say that and at that moment I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit over me. The Lord then led me to some of His scriptural promises. Continue reading →